As The World Turn and Reddit

I'm starting work again soon, just a few hours here and there to get used to the daily rut. Not looking forward to it, to be honest. In fact, the idea of returning back there just makes me wanna punch a hole in the wall. That's mostly due to the Prednisone (steroids basically) and a little bit because of something else that's at play. I'll tell about it in due time...

Anyway, me staying at home to recover wasn't all that bad. Although I have to admit that now that normal life is dawning, I wish had enjoyed my time at home a bit more. It's silly, of course. I was mostly sick the last couple of weeks/ months, enjoying myself was being to keep food down and now having to race to the loo to empty my insides. Enjoying myself was not being poked and pinched for a change during my stay at hospital. Or telling what happened to me for the umpteenth time to well-meaning friends, family, acquaintances.

But still... I wish I'd spent more time on writing. Or reading. Or drawing. I mean, I did those things here and there, of course, but looking back, I should've done more. No, what I did during my recovery was waste my time on Reddit, from AskReddit to Morbid Reality, I've seen 'em all. There I said it. Time to admit that I have a problem.

For a long time, I was so, so sad when As The World Turns ended. Who the hell puts a stop to a long-running soap opera like that because I'm sure that not everyone in Oakdale had shared the sheets with each other yet or got married for the ninth or tenth time. See, I was too invested in the lives of Holden and Lisa and Margo and Lily and Co. I was even getting warmed up to the next-gen and then...poof, it was all gone. I tried to turn my attention to the Bold, but Brooke and her harem annoy the hell out of me, and the Dutch soaps just give me a rash. Then there are the Turkish ones, but none of them appealed to me (and they talk too fast for me to keep up, but keep that between you and me).

Those were dark days... I felt lost.

Then I found Reddit, most specifically the /r/relationships sub. Oh my god. Really, who needs a soap opera when you have these people airing their dirty laundry for anyone to see and comment on. The most ridiculous issue float by, from 'My GF sleeps with her male best friends but claims it's all platonic. Is this a red flag?' to 'He broke my nose again. How can I change him?'. Of course, this exaggerated but it's still what it comes down to. Also, my guess it's that half of that, if not more, are trolls. But still, it's my new guilty pleasure and dammit, I'm enjoying the crap out of it. Also, I've learnt a few things here and there by sailing through the replies. A few examples:

1. In hetero relationships, whatever is wrong, it's always the man's fault. Always. Even if the woman is standings over the man, pressing a knife to his throat, he must have done something wrong to piss her off like that.

2. Age gaps. Apparently, there is a rule that states that the max acceptable age gap is half your age plus 7? Seriously, who makes these things up? The beautiful thing about it all when you have problems in such a relationship? Blame it on the age gap. Is the woman younger, the man must be a creep that groomed the poor gal, taking away any agency she might have had. Is the woman older, suck it up bud and stop wasting her time. Of course, she wants to settle down and pop out a few kids after two weeks, you should have thought of that when you started dating her.

3. Everyone is abusive; your SO raised his voice during an argument? He's an immature wife-beater who'll kill you in your sleep. Genders reversed; what did you say to her?

4. The easiest solution to any problem, no matter how minor: therapy. Dump him/ her.

5. Mothers-in-law are pure evil and need to burn.

6. men who ask advice because they having trouble accepting the fact their partners were promiscuous/had multiple sexual relations before them, are immature pricks that can't handle a real woman and should stop slut-shaming that goddess. Genders reversed; you go girl for having standards, dump that player. Who'd want a man-whore?

7. Every poster on there has self-diagnosed social anxiety and depression that gives them the right to act like/be an arsehole towards their friends and family. And if they don't understand your issues, dump/block/ blacklist them. Who needs such toxicity in their lives? You don't need real therapy or their help anyway.

Ah man, I could go on for hours, but you need to see it for yourself. My life has never been so complete now that I have all this new wisdom and glorious examples of double standards I can use in my personal and professional life. Also, time to reevaluate my relationship with G. Since he's a few years older and I was a helpless eighteen-year-old that couldn't think for herself when we started dating, he must've groomed me and is most probably a predatory creep. LOL.

Oh, and while you're there, go visit /r/twoXchromosomes and sort by controversial. These 'women' are hilarious. And sad. And making me doubt my femininity and life choices. But that's okay because all our (as in us women folk) problems can be blamed on 'society' and the Patriarchytm and we should take responsibility for our actions.

Of course, all the above is an exaggeration to a certain extent, but gosh, there are terrible people in the world who mean well. And I'm not talking about the warlords. *sigh* I'm gonna miss my daily dose of Reddit once I return to work. But maybe, that's for the best. It isn's the best place to spend too much of your time.